Ford ramps up EV spending with $3.5B battery plant in Michigan (3 min read)
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Ford will build a $3.5 billion EV battery plant in Michigan in partnership with China's CATL, producing LFP batteries for its electric vehicles. Named BlueOval Battery Park, it will make Ford the only US automaker producing both LFP and NCM batteries. The plant will create 2,500 jobs, with battery production beginning in 2026, supporting Ford's goal of producing 600,000 EVs globally by 2023 and 2 million by 2026. The Michigan plant will also help Ford meet domestic battery production requirements and reduce costs.

Shares of Palantir pop as it reports first profitable quarter (2 min read)
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Shares of Palantir rose nearly 20% in extended trading on Monday after the release of its Q4 earnings which beat analyst estimates. The company's revenue increased 18% from last year, with US commercial revenue growing 12%. Some of the success was attributed to the recent boom in AI. Palantir also reported its first-ever quarter of positive net income, at $31 million. CEO Alex Karp said the company is now profitable and expects to report between $503 million to $507 million in Q1 revenue.

US stocks rise as investors look to inflation data (2 min read)
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US stocks rose on Monday as investors bet that upcoming economic data would ease the pressure on the Fed to continue lifting interest rates. The S&P 500 rose 1.14% while the Nasdaq added 1.48% after having the worst week in two months. Inflation figures for January are set to be released on Tuesday and economists expect it to decline to 6.2%. This would be the smallest annual decrease since September and may signal the Fed to hike rates even more, which could bring market sentiment down, and put downward pressure on equities.

Europe is looking to tackle sky-high debt loads after signs it will dodge a recession (3 min read)

European officials are now focusing on reducing government debt piles in the EU as the new data suggests the region will avoid an economic recession. The European Commission says the Eurozone is expected to have a GDP rate of 3.5% in 2022, a better outlook than previously estimated, with expected growth of 0.9% this year. The finance ministers will have to adapt their current loose fiscal policies to the new economic environment, but there are doubts about the latest proposals, with Germany raising concerns.

Sustainable US funds suffer brutal fourth quarter in 2022 (3 min read)

US sustainable mutual funds and ETFs saw $6.2 billion in outflows in Q4 2022, the largest quarterly loss in over five years, according to a report from Morningstar. Despite the losses, the funds had net inflows of $3 billion in 2022 as investors piled $10.2 billion into it during the first three months of the year. Passive sustainable funds suffered a steeper loss than its active counterparts, marking their worst outflows in three years. The losses were driven by market volatility and concerns over greenwashing and political backlash against ESG investing.

ETF Launches And Closures Last Week (3 min read)

Calamos Investments has launched the Calamos Antetokounmpo Global Sustainable Equities ETF (SROI) with a focus on sustainability. Other ETF launches include WisdomTree Voya Yield Enhanced USD Universal Bond Fund (UNIY), Return Stacked Bonds & Managed Futures ETF (RBST) and Simplify Propel Opportunities ETF (SURI). More details on each ETFs, along with the list of ETF closures last week, are available in the article.

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